Jeanne Gang

Jeanne Gang (born March 19, 1964)^[1] is an American architect and the founder and leader of Studio Gang (established in 1997), an architecture and urban design practice with offices in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and Paris. She is known for apartment towers, first coming to wide attention with the Aqua Tower, which at the time of its completion was the tallest building in the world designed by a woman and has since been surpassed by the nearby St. Regis Chicago, also designed by Gang. She is also known for designing with an emphasis on sustainability and on social justice, and has designed a number of academic and public buildings.

Jeanne Gang
Born	(1964-03-19) March 19, 1964 (age 61) Belvidere, Illinois
Nationality	American
Alma mater	University of Illinois (B.S.), Harvard University Graduate School of Design (M.Arch.)
Occupation	Architect
Awards	2011 MacArthur Fellow, 2013 National Design Award (Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum), 2017 Louis I. Kahn Memorial Award (Philadelphia Center for Architecture)
Buildings	Aqua, St. Regis Chicago, Richard Gilder Center at The American Museum of Natural History, Tom Lee Park, Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, One Hundred Above the Park

Early life and education

Gang was born in Belvidere, Illinois,^[1][2][3] where her father was the engineer for Boone County.^[4] She graduated from Belvidere High School in 1982,^[4][5] then earned a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Illinois in 1986; during her third year, she studied in Versailles, France at the École nationale supérieure d'architecture de Versailles.^[6] In 1993 she earned a Master of Architecture with Distinction from the Harvard Graduate School of Design.<^[7][8]

In 1989, Gang was awarded an Ambassadorial Scholarship from the Rotary Foundation to study at ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology).^[9]

Career

Gang worked with OMA/Rem Koolhaas in Rotterdam and Booth Hansen in Chicago before establishing Studio Gang Architects in Chicago in 1997.^[2][7][10]

Gang has extensive built work in the Chicago area, beginning with the Starlight Theatre at Rock Valley College in Rockford, Illinois, a 1997 commission.^[2] In 2016, the Chicago Tribune named her one of its Chicagoans of the Year,^[11] and the following year Surface called her one of the most prominent Chicago architects of her generation.^[12] She was first widely recognized for the Aqua Tower (2010),^[13] her first skyscraper, which at the time of its completion was the tallest building in the world designed by a woman.^[14][15][16] The nearby St. Regis Chicago, also of her design, has since taken the title.^[17] She has also designed several academic buildings in the region, boathouses on the Chicago River,^[18][19] and the Nature Boardwalk at Lincoln Park Zoo.^[20] In 2019, the team led by Gang won the international competition to design the new Global Terminal at O'Hare International Airport.^[21]

Richard Gilder Center at the American Museum of Natural History

She has also completed several projects in New York City, including the Richard Gilder Center at the American Museum of Natural History^[22] Other major projects in the United States include the renovation and expansion of the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts in Little Rock,^[23] the expansion of Kresge College at the University of California, Santa Cruz,^[24] the new campus for California College of the Arts in San Francisco,^[25] and the Center for Arts & Innovation at Spelman College in Atlanta.^[26]

Internationally, Studio Gang was selected in 2016 to design the new United States Embassy in Brasília, Brazil.^[27][28] The University of Chicago Center in Paris opened in 2024;^[29] Q Residences in Amsterdam, the firm's first project in Europe, was completed in 2022.^[30] Studio Gang's work has been widely honored, published, and exhibited.

Gang prioritizes ecologically sensitive design and also social responsibility.^[12][31] Her Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo College is the first building designed specifically for social justice^[32] and uses cordwood masonry, which she found "an old-school hippie" to teach;^[16] and some of her community projects are low-budget, such as the SOS Children's Villages Lavezzorio Community Center, which used donated concrete.^[15][33] Among Studio Gang's planning projects is a guide to re-envisioning and improving the Civic Commons published in 2016.^[34]

Gang is a Professor in Practice of Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where she has taught since 2011 and in 2017 was the John Portman Design Critic in Architecture.^[35] She has also been a visiting studio critic at the Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, the Cullinan Visiting Professor at the Rice University School of Architecture, a visiting lecturer at the Princeton University School of Architecture, the Louis I. Kahn Junior Visiting Professor at the Yale University School of Architecture, and a studio critic at the Illinois Institute of Technology.^{[citation needed]} She also lectures frequently.^[7][36] In 2016, she presented at the TED Women conference.^[37][38] On May 11, 2024, she delivered the commencement speech at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.^[39]

Publications

In 2024, Gang published The Art of Architectural Grafting, which presents a 10-point program for adaptive reuse on the analogy of horticultural grafting.^[40][41] She co-edited Building: Inside Studio Gang (2012), a catalogue to accompany Studio Gang's solo exhibition at Art Institute of Chicago.^[42] In 2011, Studio Gang published Reverse Effect: Renewing Chicago's Waterways, an advocacy publication to spur the revival of the Chicago River.^[43]

Awards

Gang was elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 2009,^[44] became an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada in 2017,^[45] and also in 2017 was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.^[46] In 2018, she was elected an International Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects.^[47]

Gang received the Academy Award in Architecture of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2006^[48] She was a 2011 MacArthur Fellow,^[3][49] the fourth architect to be selected,^[50] and was elected into the National Academy of Design in 2012.^[51] In 2013, she received the Jesse L. Rosenberger Medal by the University of Chicago,^[52] and she and Studio Gang were awarded the National Design Award for Architecture by the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.^[53][54] In 2014, she was one of five recipients in the inaugural year of the Architectural Record Women in Architecture awards.^[55] In 2015, she was awarded the Légion d'Honnaire by France.^[56] Gang was named the 2016 Architect of the Year by The Architectural Review, which cited the Arcus Center in particular.^[32] In 2017, she won the Public Humanities Award of the Illinois Humanities Council^[57] and the Marcus Prize for Architecture,^[58] and received the Louis I. Kahn Memorial Award of the Philadelphia Center for Architecture.^[59] In 2019, she was included in Time magazine's list of the 100 most influentual people.^[60][61] In 2022, she won the ULI Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development^[62] and was the first woman to receive the Charlotte Perriand Award, which recognizes architects whose work enhances the quality of life through design.^[63] Among specific buildings, the Aqua Tower was awarded a 2008 American Architecture Award by the Chicago Athenaeum,^[64] the 2009 Emporis Skyscraper Award,^[65] an Award of Excellence at the 2010 CTBUH Skyscraper Awards,^[66] and the 2011 Prix d'Excellence International Design Award of the International Real Estate Federation,^[67] and was a finalist for the 2010 International High-Rise Award;^[68] Mira won the jury award for unbuilt multi-unit residential buildings at the 2020 Architizer A+ Awards^[69] and four awards of excellence at the 2021 CTBUH Tall + Urban Innovation conference;^[70] and St. Regis Chicago won Best Tall Building by Height: 300–399 meters and two awards of excellence at the 2022 CTBUH Skyscraper Awards^[71] and a People's Choice Award and a certificate of merit from the Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 2023 (Studio Gang's design for the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts won an honor award at the same event).^[72]

She has received honorary doctorates from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago,^[61][73] Columbia College Chicago,^[74] and the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.^[75][76]

Personal life

Gang is married to Mark Schendel.^[3]

Projects

St. Regis Chicago, the tallest building in the world designed by a woman

Aqua Tower, previously the world's tallest female-designed building

Nature Boardwalk at the Lincoln Park Zoo

Education and research

Project	Location	Status	Year
The University of Chicago Center in Paris	Paris, France		2022	[29]
Kresge College Residential Buildings, University of California, Santa Cruz	Santa Cruz, California		2023	[24]
Kresge College Academic Center, University of California, Santa Cruz	Santa Cruz, California		2023	[77]
Beloit College Powerhouse	Beloit, Wisconsin		2020	[78]
University of Chicago Campus North Residential Commons	Chicago, Illinois		2016	[79]
Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo College	Kalamazoo, Michigan		2014	[32][80]
Columbia College Chicago Media Production Center	Chicago		2010	[81]
One Milestone West, Harvard University Enterprise Research Campus	Allston, Boston, Massachusetts	Under construction	2023	[82][83]
David Rubenstein Treehouse, Harvard University	Allston, Boston	Under construction	2023	[83][84]
Spelman College Center for Innovation & the Arts	Atlanta, Georgia		2024	[26][85]
California College of the Arts	San Francisco, California	Two of three buildings completed	2023	[25][86]

Nature, culture, and community

Project	Location	Status	Year
Rescue Company 2 (New York City Fire Department)	New York City		2019	[87]
Northerly Island	Chicago, Illinois	Ongoing	2017	[88][89]
Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation at the American Museum of Natural History	New York City		2023	[22]
Eleanor Boathouse at Park 571	Chicago		2016	[19]
National Aquarium Strategic Master Plan	Baltimore, Maryland	Design concept completed	2016	[16][90]
Writers Theatre	Glencoe, Illinois		2016	[91]
PAHC Studio	Chicago		2014	[92]
WMS Boathouse at Clark Park	Chicago		2013	[18]
The Conservation Center	Chicago		2012	[93]
Kaohsiung Maritime Cultural and Pop Music Center	Kaohsiung, Republic of China	Competition design completed	2011	[94]
Blue Wall Center	Greenville, South Carolina	Design concept completed	2010	[95]
Nature Boardwalk at Lincoln Park Zoo	Chicago		2010	[20]
Taipei Pop Music Center	Taipei, Republic of China	Competition design completed	2010	[96]
SOS Children's Villages Lavezzorio Community Center	Chicago		2008	[33]
Chinese American Service League Kam Liu Center	Chicago		2004	[97]
Bengt Sjostrom Starlight Theatre at Rock Valley College	Rockford, Illinois		2003	[2][98]
Tom Lee Park	Memphis, Tennessee		2023	[99][100]
Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts	Little Rock, Arkansas		2023	[23]
Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival	Garrison, New York	Under construction	2023	[101]
O'Hare Global Terminal	Chicago	In design	2024	[21][102]

Towers

One Hundred Above the Park, St. Louis, Missouri

Project	Location	Status	Year
One Delisle	Toronto, Ontario, Canada	Pre-construction	2026	[103]
St. Regis Chicago	Chicago, Illinois		2022	[17]
11 Hoyt	New York City		2021	[104]
One Hundred Above the Park	St. Louis, Missouri		2020	[105]
Solar Carve (40 Tenth Avenue)	New York City		2019	[106]
Solstice on the Park	Chicago		2018	[107]
Mira	San Francisco, California		2017	[108][109]
City Hyde Park	Chicago		2016	[110]
Shoreland	Chicago		2014	[111]
Recombinant House (Garden in the Machine)	Cicero, Illinois	Design concept completed	2012	[112]
Aqua Tower	Chicago		2010	[13][14][15]
Vancouver Pair	Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada	Design concept completed	2010	[113]
Hyderabad O2	Hyderabad, India	Design concept completed	2008	[114]
Zhong Bang Village	Shanghai, China	Competition design	2003	[115]
Q Residences	Amsterdam, Netherlands		2022	[30]

Planning

Project	Location	Status	Year
Neighborhood Activation to Increase Public Safety through Community-Empowered Design and Planning	Chicago, Illinois		2021	[116]
River Edge Ideas Lab	Chicago		2017	[117]
Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice Neighborhood Activation Study	New York City		2018	[118]
Neighborhood Schools Reuse Concept	Memphis, Tennessee		2018	[119]
Civic Commons	United States		2016	[34]
Port District Planning Study	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	Design proposals	2015	[120]
HafenCity	Hamburg, Germany	Design proposals	2006	[121][122]

Exhibitions

Project	Location	Institution	Year
Dimensions of Discovery: Environments for Learning	Paris, France	Galerie Archilib	2023	[123]
Studio Gang Mock-Ups	Chicago, Illinois		2022	[124]
Good News: Women in Architecture	Rome, Italy	Maxxi Museum	2021	[125]
A Different Future in the Making	Chicago		2020	[126]
Baleinopolis: The Secret Societies of Cetaceans	Paris, France	Dorée Tropical Aquarium	2019	[127]
Stage Buoys	Chicago	Chicago Architecture Biennial	2017	[128]
Hive	Washington, D.C.	National Building Museum	2017	[129][130]
Working in America	Chicago		2016	[131]
Thinning Ice	Miami, Florida	Design Miami	2014	[132]
Changes of Phase	Chicago	Thodos Dance Chicago	2014	[133]
EXPO Chicago	Chicago		2012 –2014	[134]
Building: Inside Studio Gang Architects	Chicago	Art Institute of Chicago	2012–2013	[88][135][136]
Foreclosed: Rehousing the American Dream at the Museum of Modern Art	New York City	Museum of Modern Art	2012	[137][138]
Baseball in the City	Chicago	Art Institute of Chicago	2004	[139]
Marble Curtain	Washington, D.C.	Masonry Variations, National Building Museum	2003–2004	[16][140][141]